1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to computer apparatus and, in a preferred embodiment thereof, more particularly relates to the internal cooling of computer tower units.
2. Description of Related Art
In the realms of both personal and business computing applications computer tower units have become quite popular in recent years due primarily to their substantially increased expansion capabilities compared to typical desktop computers. The housing of the usual computer tower unit is of a vertically elongated configuration, and is designed to be stood on end on the floor adjacent a desk atop which the other two primary personal computer system components, a keyboard and a display monitor, are disposed.
As conventionally constructed, a computer tower unit housing has top and bottom walls, vertically elongated front and rear end walls, and a pair of vertically extending opposite side walls which have horizontal dimensions substantially greater than those of the front and rear end walls. Typically, one of the opposite side walls is removable to provide ready access to the interior of the tower unit.
Because of the large number of heat generating components, such as processors, drive units, expansion cards and power supply units, which may be initially or subsequently installed within the outer housing of a computer tower unit, proper interior cooling of the unit becomes an important design criteria, and the cooling capacity must be sufficient to handle the maximum number of heat generating components that might ultimately be installed in the unit.
In a previously proposed computer tower unit configuration upper and lower air intake structures are mounted on upper and lower portions of the front housing end wall, a power supply cooling fan is mounted on a top portion of the rear end wall generally opposite the upper air intake structure, and a main system cooling fan is mounted on a vertically intermediate portion of the rear end wall. A power supply unit is mounted within the tower housing between a top portion of the upper air intake and the power supply cooling fan, and a drive bay area is positioned directly behind a lower section of the upper air intake.
The main system motherboard is interiorly mounted on the housing side wall opposite the removable side access wall, and an expansion card mounting area is disposed behind the lower air intake structure in a lower portion of the housing interior adjacent the motherboard. The power supply area, the drive bay area, and the expansion card area are all communicated with one another within the interior of the tower unit housing.
During operation of the tower unit, the power supply and main system fans draw ambient cooling air through the interior of the housing to carry away operating heat generated by the various components therein. In addition to these two cooling fans, a third cooling fan is side-mounted on the housing, at the drive bay area, to ensure a flow of cooling air through the drive bay area via the upper air intake structure.
In the previously proposed computer unit configuration generally described above it was thus thought to be necessary to provide three separate cooling fans to dissipate component heat generated in the power supply, drive bay and expansion card areas in the housing during tower unit operation. The necessity of providing three such cooling fans, of course, adds to the overall cost of the tower unit. It would accordingly be desirable to provide an improved computer tower unit, having a configuration generally as described above, which could be cooled with a lesser number of fans. It is thus an object of the present invention to provide such an improved computer tower unit.